Habits and Character of the Prince
During forty years of his career as Prince of Wales, King Edward VII.
was probably the most talked-of man in the United Kingdom. Good-natured
stories, ill-natured anecdotes, criticisms grading down from the
malicious to the very mild, praise ranging from the fulsome to the
feeble point, falsehoods great and falsehoods small, have found currency
not confined to the English language and ranging through "yarns" of
gutter journals in London, Paris, Berlin, New York or Calcutta, in
varied languages, and in many degrees of fabrication. Outside of the
United Kingdom some of these stories have been more or less believed;
even in his own national home there were always people ready and willing
to accept the worst that they heard about a great public personage.
Where he was known best, however, the influence of these things upon the
reputation of the Prince of Wales was least and, in fact, so small as to
afford little or no excuse for dealing with them. Abroad, however, it
had always been different, and in the United States, thirty years before
his accession to the Throne, it was conspicuously so. With the passing
years, of course, and with growing knowledge of the Prince's position
and character, the situation greatly changed.
As a matter of fact the Prince of Wales, from the early days of his
manhood, was in his personal and private relations a jovial, honest and
honourable English gentleman; possessed of a full sense of his
responsibility in much burdensome work and ceremonial and with a
growing appreciation, as years passed, of his place as a sort of
impartial Empire statesman; possessed, also, of a large fund of animal
spirits and capacity for enjoying the pleasures of life. Within the full
limits of his rights and his position he lived his life of work and
pleasure, of public responsibility and of private rest and recreation.
Yet it was almost always in the blaze of a noon-day publicity and few,
indeed, were the times and seasons in which the Heir Apparent could
amuse himself in any genuine _incognito_. Attempt it he might, but if
any evil-minded critic were to seriously or conscientiously consider the
situation--both of which suppositions are improbable--he might have seen
that the best-known and most photographed man in the world would indeed
have been foolish to trust to an _incognito_ for any but the simplest
and most innocent of objects. The actual impossibility of the Prince of
Wales escaping from his _entourage_, his identity, and his surroundings,
were sufficient to make Continental fictions and foreign fancies about
him absolutely farcical to those who knew something of his daily
life--aside altogether from those who knew and understood his real
character.
THE MORDAUNT CASE
There was only one matter involving moral considerations which ever
emerged from the low region of back-door insinuation to the upper air
and it was threshed out in a _cause celebre_--that of Lady Mordaunt. Her
husband, an English baronet, sued for divorce before the Court of
Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, alleging the usual grounds, and naming
as co-respondents, Viscount Cole and Sir Frederick Johnstone. The case
was heard on February 16th, 1870, and following days, and the defence on
the part of Lady Mordaunt was insanity. The Prince of Wales, though not
specified in the indictment, was so widely gossiped about as being
connected with the case that he asked to be heard and swore positively
that there had been no improper relations between himself and the
defendant. Two of the Judges on Appeal--Lord Penzance and Mr. Justice
Keating--agreed with the jury's verdict that Lady Mordaunt was insane,
while Chief Baron Kelly differed. The woman in the case was for years
afterwards confined in a lunatic asylum, and it has long since been
quite well understood that the only basis for scandal was the fact that
a Royal visit which had been paid upon one occasion was made under the
invariable rule of etiquette, which prescribes that no other caller
shall be received while the visit lasts. Before and after the trouble
Lady Mordaunt's sisters, and especially the Dowager Countess of Dudley,
were amongst the Princess of Wales' warm friends, while the daughter of
the plaintiff in the case was, in later years, received at Sandringham,
and was given many beautiful presents by the members of the Royal family
upon her marriage to the Marquess of Bath. Such conditions would have
been absolutely impossible to imagine with the Princess of Wales had she
entertained the slightest belief in the stories floating about regarding
that famous trial. During the succeeding thirty years, however, there
was never even an apparent excuse for the repetition of such stories,
and the happy home life of the Prince and Princess was patent to all who
were willing to believe the evidence of their eyes and ears.
What may be said of the characteristics and habits of this many-sided
heir to Royal position? Probably his first and most pronounced quality
was one of difficult definition--tactfulness. Through its means he led
society without rivalry and with unique success; promoted reforms
without violence of agitation or the creation of antagonisms; carried
out countless varied and delicate duties, with noiseless celerity, in an
age of intense and active curiosity. In forty years of ceaseless
political change and frequently acute political crises not a whisper of
his private views became known to the million-tongued press or the
curious public. He had known every kind of partisan and been liked by
leaders of the masses as well as the classes--by Joseph Arch and Henry
Broadhurst, as well as by the Earl of Derby or the Marquess of
Salisbury. If he visited Mr. Gladstone at Hawarden on one occasion he
paid the same honour to Lord Beaconsfield at Hughenden at another time.
If Lord Randolph Churchill was a personal friend so also was Lord
Rosebery, or Mr. Balfour. His genial manner and sometimes cosmopolitan
view of society encouraged a popular opinion as to his natural
democracy; while a personal dignity, never forced, or assumed, but
always present, prevented the most courageous person from taking undue
advantage of the freedom from ceremonial which he sometimes liked to
encourage. His preferences in international matters were as little known
as his political opinions, and yet, at times, his influence in this
respect was very great.
SPORTING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRINCE
The next and perhaps most prominent characteristic of the Prince of
Wales was his love for sports and his embodiment of qualities which, in
everyday life, constitute the English country gentleman. Some reference
has already been made to his interest in racing, yachting and shooting.
But most of the lesser sports and games were also attractive to him at
different periods, and there was hardly one with which he was not more
or less familiar. Boating and riding in his University days and
fox-hunting at Sandringham from time to time in later years, were
incidents of this record. Croquet he was an expert in, but never very
fond of. Lawn-tennis, when first introduced and for years afterwards,
was a game to which he was very partial, and on the _Serapis_ when
traversing the route to India he played deck-tennis until everyone else
was exhausted. The bowling-alley at Sandringham was one of the best in
England and the Prince was always fond of a game of bowls. Quoits he
played well, and billiards he played with frequency and skill--his
daughters being also able to handle the cue with success. Hockey was a
favourite game, especially on the lakes at Sandringham, and of this
sport the other members of his family were equally fond. Skating and
hockey parties were frequent during severe winter seasons and the Prince
played in many specially arranged hockey matches--one of them against
members of the House of Commons in the winter of 1894-5 included Mr.
Balfour, Lord Stanley, Lord Willoughby de Eresby and Mr. Victor
Cavendish.
Fishing never appealed to him and was, apparently, too quiet and easy a
sport. He liked pigeon-flying, and bred some very fine birds at
Sandringham for this purpose. Tricycling he was very fond of and kept
good machines both at Marlborough and Sandringham. As soon as motor cars
came into use he could be frequently seen driving a smart carriage along
the country roads of Norfolk. Chess the Prince never mastered nor cared
for. In dancing he was an expert, as well as in skating, and was always
exceedingly fond of the amusement. At his Sandringham balls he was an
indefatigable dancer, and at great balls all over the world he delighted
many a partner and varied social circle by his obvious pleasure in the
entertainment. From Halifax to Montreal, from Toronto to New York, in
Canada and the United States, in Egypt and India, in Turkey and Greece,
in all the greater Courts of Europe, from the days of Napoleon III. at
Paris, to those of William II. at Berlin, he had been the central figure
of some such occasions. Golf was played by His Royal Highness on the
links of Musselburgh in early days and at a later time in Windsor Park.
Cricket he was fond of in his younger days, but latterly he only showed
his interest by patronizing matches as an onlooker. In these and other
pursuits the Prince represented in his mode of life and his manner of
enjoying himself the qualities of a distinct type amongst his
countrymen and a type most popular throughout the community.
Another characteristic of the Prince was his good manners. The "first
gentleman in Europe" always knew how to be pleasant without being
familiar, dignified without being pompous, genial without being free.
Myriads of stories are told in this connection. At the skating and
hockey parties on the Sandringham lakes the farmers' wives and daughters
were included and no Duchess in the land would be handed a cup of tea
with more courtly manner by the Royal host than would the wife of a
tenant on his estates. His servants, in houses and farms and stables, in
sport or travel, at home and abroad, were treated in such a way as to
make every one of them wish to serve the Prince for a life-time. No more
charming incident is on record than the way in which His Royal Highness
approached Mrs. Gladstone at the state funeral of her great husband,
bowed low before her and kissed her proffered hand. Whether in high
circles, or in those of ordinary people, in expected surroundings or
amid unexpected conditions, the Prince seemed to always retain this
faculty of politeness in the true sense of the word--a product of heart
and mind rather than of mere instruction or habit.
His manner and style of public speaking was an incident in the Prince of
Wales' career which exercised considerable influence upon his personal
popularity. The pronounced factors in his style were not oratory,
gestures, or brilliancy. Plain in matter and manner the speeches always
were; full of meat and substance they frequently were; neat and
effective they were generally considered. Mr. Gladstone once went
further than this description would seem to warrant when he declared
that there were few speakers whom he listened to with more pleasure.
"His speeches are invariably marvels of conciseness, graceful expression
and clear elocution". His voice was a good one, clear and distinct and
well-trained. Nervous in his younger days and accustomed to learn the
speeches off for delivery, he gradually changed with age and experience
into the delivery of _impromptu_ after-dinner remarks and speeches which
did not show traces of the midnight oil or earnest preparation--although
often full of facts and incidents about the immense variety of subjects
with which he had to deal.
Intimately connected with these characteristics of his was the
unquestioned ability to judge human nature. This quality enabled the
Prince to play his difficult part so well as he did, to keep him in
touch with all classes and the masses, to cultivate all the varied
elements of a changing national life, and to be as much at home amongst
business men as at the Royal Academy--amongst the aristocracy of London
as with the farmers of Norfolk. He was ever a good judge of the people
around him and, perhaps, no man in modern life was so well and
faithfully served. His memory for names and faces was extraordinary and
would remind Canadians of the unique faculty in this connection
possessed by the late Sir John Macdonald. He always hated affectation
and toadyism and liked sincerity and simplicity. Marie Corelli, writing
in 1897, used the following expressive words: "To entertain the Prince
do little; for he is clever enough to entertain himself privately with
the folly and humbug of those he sees around him, without actually
sharing in the petty comedy. He is a keen observer and must derive
infinite gratification from his constant study of men and manners, which
is sufficiently deep and searching to fit him for the occupation of even
the throne of England. I say 'even', for at present, till time's great
hourglass turns, it is the grandest throne in the world".
Patronage of music, art and the drama were characteristic incidents in
the life and work of the Prince. The day for helping literature had
perhaps gone when he came upon the scene and newspapers were then
supposed to do for budding genius what royalty and aristocracy did for
Johnson, Goldsmith, Swift or Pope. It is a curious fact of later-day
democracy that, with the obvious exception of Kipling, most of the
greater lights in literature--Browning, Rossetti, Tennyson, Mathew
Arnold or Swinburne--were born with fairly comfortable means. This in
passing, of course. Something has been said elsewhere as to His Royal
Highness's patronage of music and there is no doubt that he taught smart
society to support the opera, while his personal enthusiasm for Wagner
was pronounced and sincere.
THE THEATRE AND THE CHURCH
He patronized the theatre for many years with regularity and
discrimination; his taste in all matters of light comedy and opera was
known to be good; and it goes without saying that his approval of a play
or actor made many a reputation and fortune. He used to make his own
selection of theatre or play, pay handsomely for his own box, arrive
punctually on time and remain till the end, or very near it. His dislike
of ostentation soon did away with the old fashion of a manager walking
upstairs backward before royalty and his leaving a little early was to
avoid causing delay and confusion with their carriages amongst the other
guests of the theatre. Actors have greatly exaggerated the extent of his
patronage and friendship. But he more than once took supper with Sir
Henry Irving and it is understood to have been by his advice that the
great tragedian was knighted. He it was who encouraged the late Queen to
resume her patronage of the theatre and to begin by having Mr. and Mrs.
Kendal appear before her at Osborne. He never liked, however, the
appearance of members of the aristocracy on the stage and his daughters
are said to have never taken part even in private theatricals. He is
said to have enjoyed a private visit and smoke behind the scenes and
George Grossmith is stated to have been one of those who were most
patronized in this respect.
An interesting feature of his many-sided career and character was the
Heir Apparent's attention to his religious duties. At Marlborough and at
Sandringham prayers were read daily, in the morning, and guests, staff
and servants were expected, though not compelled, to be present. On
Sunday the Prince invariably attended morning service either at the
Chapel Royal in London, or at the quaint and beautiful little Chapel of
St. Mary Magdalene, in the country. The latter was filled with handsome
Memorial windows and tablets and there, for many years, worshipped the
future King with the humblest labourers on his estate. The only
distinction made was in the private entrance for the Prince and the
reserved pews for his guests and family. His daughters taught in the
Sunday School and the Princess had charge of the music. It has been said
that the Prince never attended Divine service on a Sunday in any but an
Episcopal church. Certainly the records of his travels and habits appear
to confirm this statement. Whether in Bombay, or Montreal, or New York,
he seems to have always attended the services of the Established Church
or its daughter Churches. Even in Rome, where he once spent Easter
Sunday, impressive ceremonies conducted by the Pope at St. Peter's did
not prevent him from attending a quiet little English church and
explaining that when members of the Church were in foreign lands they
should be especially particular in encouraging their own form of faith.
Of course, as a traveller of wide experience the Prince visited all the
great cathedrals of the Continent and was familiar with the splendid
Mohammedan mosques and Hindoo temples and sacred shrines which helped to
make the glittering East so attractive. But they were visited on
week-days. He was supposed to be broad in his principles as a Churchman
and certainly at state weddings and funerals in other countries he
shared in various forms of worship. The Princess of Wales was known to
have attended ritualistic services before her husband's accession to
the Throne, but she far more often attended Low or Broad Church
services. On Sundays at Sandringham the Prince used, in the afternoons,
to walk about the grounds with his family or guests, visit the kennels,
the bear-pit, the model farms or the Princess's lovely little dairy and
its suite of tiny attached rooms where tea would often be served. In
London he would sometime attend Divine service again or else pay calls
in his private hansom and then dine quietly with friends or have a few
of them to dinner at Marlborough. Sunday afternoons at Sandringham were
always greatly enjoyed by Sir Frederick Leighton and Lord Beaconsfield
but Mr. Gladstone is said to have best liked long, lonely rambles
through the woods of the estate.
An important part of the character of a man in the position so long held
by the Prince of Wales is the fact of moderation, or otherwise, in
eating and drinking. It is a vital factor in the lives of all men but
how much more so when great banquets are for months a daily function;
when every luxury, or delicacy, or combination of cookery known to the
civilized world and the barbaric East is at one time or another offered
for his delectation; when the power of rulers and the wealth of
millionaires are devoted to the furnishing of choice wines and
_liqueurs_ and drinks for his use. The good health always enjoyed by the
Prince was perhaps proof enough of his moderation at the table. His
habits in this respect became pretty well known. Tea at breakfast and in
the afternoon he always liked; Moselle cup he enjoyed and was rather
proud of possessing the receipt brought from Germany by the Prince
Consort; champagne for many years was almost his exclusive beverage
though afterwards claret took its place. Between meals he seldom drank
anything though a well-known "cocktail" in the London clubs is credited
to his invention. He always strongly disapproved of ladies drinking
anything but a little wine and this was well understood by his own
guests or by those at houses where he visited.
Reference must be made here to one unpleasant incident in the Prince of
Wales' later career--unpleasant in its results and in the comments of
the press and pulpit. To playing cards for an occasional evening's
amusement the Prince was always partial, but not to the extent which was
sometimes asserted.
CARDS AND THE BACCARAT AFFAIR
During his journeys abroad he seldom or never played and he made a
strict and early rule against playing in clubs. His friends say that he
used to frequently dissuade younger men or the sons of old friends from
forming a habit in this connection and as a well-known man of the world,
without affectation and with wide experience and a naturally commanding
influence, his views no doubt had great weight. Hence the most
regrettable feature in the famous Baccarat case of 1890 which was, for a
time, one of the most talked-of and preached-at incidents in modern
social life. To understand the matter it is necessary to look at the
Prince's environment. He was the leader of society and society, together
with a large proportion of people everywhere, saw no harm in a game of
cards, or even in the accompaniment of playing for ordinary money
stakes, any more than they saw harm in racing and betting upon the
results, or in dancing and its accompaniment of late hours and perhaps
frivolous dissipation. Yet to many people in the United Kingdom and the
Empire danger and evil lurked in one or all of these amusements and it
was a shock to them to find that the Heir Apparent actually indulged in
card-playing; although everyone had known that he patronized the other
two pursuits referred to.
The history of the affair may be told briefly. On September 8th, during
the Doncaster races, Mr. Arthur Wilson, a very wealthy shipowner, was
entertaining a large party at Tranby Croft, near Hull, which included
the Prince of Wales, Lord Coventry, General Owen Williams, Sir William
Gordon-Cumming, Lord Craven, Lord and Lady Brougham and Lord Edward
Somerset. When each day's racing was over and the company had returned
to Tranby Croft and finished dinner, Baccarat was introduced as the
amusement of the evening and played for a couple of hours. The stakes
were moderate--for such a party--and ran from five shillings to ten
pounds. About seventeen people, ladies and gentlemen, usually sat down
and the Prince of Wales was the life of the party, as he generally was,
whatever the occupation or sport. On the date mentioned, Mr. Stanley
Wilson, the host's son, thought he saw Sir W. Gordon-Cumming using his
counters fraudulently and informed Lord Coventry and General Williams of
his suspicions. On the third evening a committee of five--two ladies and
three gentlemen--watched the baronet and unanimously agreed that they
saw him cheating. He was privately accused of the offence, denied it
vehemently, and brought the matter before the Prince, who practically
acted as judge and regretfully told him that there could be no doubt of
his guilt.
It was, perhaps the most difficult position the Prince of Wales had ever
been placed in. To hand a friend and fellow-guest and well-known soldier
over to justice meant in this case ruin to the man himself, disgrace to
their host and his family and a considerable amount of discredit to the
Prince. Of the latter point it is probable that the Prince thought
least, as his fidelity to friends was always well-known. Yet to let the
apparently guilty man go without punishment or restriction was
impossible from every standpoint. The Prince, therefore, tried to square
his duty all round by a compromise and made Sir W. Gordon-Cumming sign a
pledge to never play at cards again. The natural result followed where
at least seven people hold a secret of much importance. It became known,
or rather rumored, the resignation of the baronet from the Army was not
accepted pending inquiry and, finally, he precipitated the issue by
sueing the committee of five--Mrs. Arthur Wilson, Mr. Stanley Wilson,
Mr. and Mrs. Lycett Green and Mr. Berkeley Levett--for scandal. Sir
Charles Russell acted for the defence and Sir Edward Clarke for the
plaintiff and, after a sensational trial, the action was dismissed.
The case created the most intense interest and for a time His Royal
Highness was the most criticised man in the United Kingdom. Press and
pulpit thundered forth denunciations of gambling and card-playing, and
lectured the Prince upon his duty to the nation and his responsibility
for public morality. Every extreme religious speaker or writer, every
Radical paper, or pamphleteer, or lecturer found the Heir to the Throne
an excellent subject for abuse, while the best papers abroad teemed with
reflections which could hardly be termed generous. Speaking of the
counters which had been used in these games and which were brought by
the Prince personally to Tranby Croft the New York _Tribune_ declared
that in them he had "fingered the fragments of the Crown of England."
Upon one point all the home papers were united and that was that in
trying to arrange and settle the matter the Prince had contravened the
Army regulations.
The better class of papers were very serious upon the subject. The
London _Times_ declared that the Heir Apparent could not put off his
responsibilities as he did his official dress and, while admitting the
assiduity and tact and good-humour with which he performed his dull
round of routine duties, it yet bitterly regretted the example he had
now set. The _Daily News_ thought that the Prince had only been guilty
of an indiscretion, so far as his action toward Gordon-Cumming was
concerned, but went on to say that what was blameless as an example in
meaner men, was very different in one of his exalted position. The
_Standard_ denounced the whole affair from beginning to end. "The Prince
of Wales is not as other men. His position demands a sobriety, a
self-restraint, and a dignity from which people of less exalted
position and lighter responsibilities are absolved." The religious press
put no bounds to its denunciation. The _Christian World_ spoke of the
matter as an "outrage to the public conscience" and the _British Weekly_
thought it "enough to sober the strongest supporters of the Monarchy."
Resolutions were passed at some Church meetings of a similar character.
AFTERMATH OF THE INCIDENT
Then the re-action came. His Royal Highness expressed to the Military
authorities and the House of Commons his apologies for an unintentional
infraction of Army regulations; it was pointed out that playing a game
of cards in a private house was not setting a public example and that
the situation was so unique that any man in the Prince's place would
have been pardoned in not knowing what to do; the cause of the trouble
was dismissed from the Army and expelled from his clubs. The _Daily
Telegraph_ pointed out that the carrying of the Baccarat counters, which
was apparently deemed the most serious part of the matter by many
commentators, was a very common habit with players of this game as the
symbols for money tended to moderation in playing, and were better in
every way than slips of paper. Years afterwards, Mr. Arnold White stated
it as a fact that these famous bits of pasteboard were actually a
present from the Princess of Wales. The public came to feel after the
first hasty judgment was given that, after all, the Prince had risked a
good deal for a friend and the _Observer_ went so far as to say that
"under the most difficult and trying circumstances His Royal Highness
has acted as ninety-nine Englishmen out of a hundred would have done."
The Rev. Dr. Charles A. Berry, the eminent Non-conformist divine,
declared that the people were not going to be unduly severe in their
judgment. "They recognize the fact that he does a great deal of public
work and is compelled to live almost continually a life of unnatural
pressure. It is, therefore, to say the least, understandable that he
should seek pleasure and relaxation in some form of excitement."
Then the issue cooled down as suddenly as the tempest had arisen, and
before long it would have been hard to recognize that so stormy a stage
of criticism had swept over the popular Prince's head. In the _Life_ of
Archbishop Benson, published many years afterwards, there appeared a
long letter from the Heir Apparent in answer to a note of sympathy
received at this time from His Grace. The Prince spoke of the "deep pain
and annoyance" which the Baccarat incident had caused him; of the recent
trial which had given the press occasion "to make most bitter and unjust
attacks upon me, knowing I was defenceless--and I am not sure that
politics were not mixed up in it." Speaking of the papers and the
Nonconformists, who had been especially strong in their remarks, he
added some interesting expressions as to his general view of gambling.
"They have a perfect right, I am well aware, in a free country like our
own, to express their opinions, but I do not consider that they have a
just right to jump at conclusions regarding myself, without knowing the
facts. I have a horror of gambling, and should always do my utmost to
discourage others who have an inclination for it, as I consider
gambling, like intemperance, is one of the greatest curses which a
country could be afflicted with. Horse-racing may produce gambling, or
it may not, but I have always looked upon it as a manly sport which is
popular with Englishmen of all classes, and there is no reason why it
should be looked upon as a gambling transaction. Alas, those who gamble
will gamble at anything."
Such were some of the characteristics and habits and social incidents in
the career of King Edward while he was Prince of Wales. They show how
entirely he shared in the life of the majority of the people--a fact all
the more illustrated in the occasions when he departed from his natural
and usual course and seemed to participate in matters outside of the
accepted and popular pursuits of the people. It is the picture of a man
who loved his England, liked life and its pleasures, hated humbug,
enjoyed sport, did his duty as it came to him and liked the play, the
race-course and all the sports of a healthy, hearty Englishman. They
prove the accuracy of that interesting description penned in his _Diary_
by the King of Sweden and which, somehow, became public: "The Heir
Apparent to the British Throne is Prince of Wales by name, Prince of
Society by inclination, Prince of Good Fellows by nature."